DaySailer.org Forum

Took the DS1 out today-what a gorgeous day. 72 degrees, puff ball clouds and about 10-12 knot wind. Had a blast and everything went well especially since I haven't sailed for about 40 years. I do have a few questions however and would appreciate the help.

1. Why do they (or at least mine) have 2 main sheets? I would think the farthest aft one would be fine for this size of boat. I just took the one forward on the boom off after I figured out I really didn't need it. Am I missing something here?

2. Is it common on the Daysailers to have the leeward shroud slack when sailing?

3. Has anybody routed their jib sheets father aft? My boat came with them near the cutty with a nice little encase hole through the teak and into a cleat. Nice except when you are single handling the boat.

4. Does anybody silicone their sail slots to improve raising the sail? My 26' has sail slugs and silicone really helps it I have heard so I thought I would ask if anybody does this a little bit to help the sail edge rope slide better.

1. There is only one mainsheet.

Stock configuration goes in a triangle: end-boom, left, right, end-boom, from there forward to mid-boom, down to end of CB with a swivel/block/cleat combination.

2. yes.

However, if it's really slack before you hit the 10-12, then perhaps your tensions is too low (too loose). You want to go for "slightly" slack.

3. use a tiller extension and sit further forward

The best seating position for single handing is much further forward than people "naturally" assume. The result is that the stern drags through the water, slowing down the boat. Having the jib setup force you forward is good.

(Aside: you may eventually want to rig Barber inhauls at some point, those will help you point better, but they are yet another line that needs to be operated from the front of the boat -- read up on them here in the old posts before you install them)

4. silicone: don't

Don't ever use silicone in any form on a boat. It will make it impossible to paint anything later (can't easily get it out of gelcoat). I've used wax at one point in the past, but haven't felt the need to do anything for many seasons.

(Aside: new sails may have different bolt-ropes; if you were thinking of getting new ones, see how they work, first).

Can't remember whether you were the one with the bent slot, if so, some lubrication (wax) might help at that tight spot.

Glad you had a great first (with this boat) sail! Definitely boosts the confidence ...

In addition to GL's comments:

1. Not sure what you mean by this, but I can only assume you mean center boom sheeting with a traveler arrangement at the stern? Many other sailboats have the mainsheet controls at the stern, but only to accommodate biminis, etc. Apparently Uffa Fox believed in the best of both worlds ... ;-P

2. Rig tension will always be a subject of "voodoo science". Most DS rigging guides prescribe shroud tension that allows for the leeward shroud to be slack at 8 - 10 kts of wind, but your mileage may vary.

3. Later DS models incorporated a jib fairlead/cleat on a track, adjustable fore and aft. You might be able to incorporate something similar on yours?

4. Lubing the boltrope slot is a great trick, but I'd use a dry (non-silicone) lube such as Elmer's Slide All. One neat trick is to take a short length of line of the same diameter as the boltrope, wrap a rag around it, soak same in the dry lube, and run that up and down the slot. If the mast is up, just fashion some way to connect your main halyard to one end and another line to the bottom end, and run it up and down that way. Will greatly improve the ability to raise and lower the main whether you use the boltrope or slugs ...

Thanks all. Yup mine has two main sheets with the aft one having the triangle on the transom deck and the swivel cam block on top of the CB housing Works great. The other one is about 18 inches forward of the aft block on the boom and had a double double black cam cleat at the boom and attached to the top of the CB housing. This is the one I took off during sailing for I though it was silly.

I'll play around with the shroud tension next time out. I'm sure it was just me being afraid of getting the shrouds too tight when adjust the mast riser.

My jib sheets do have have any type of track. Just a hole through the team coaming and into a way too big of a cam cleat. I'll be changing those as well.

As far as silicone, I never use the silicone from a tube on my boats. This was just spray silicone. I'll stop using it and try the Elmers Slide all.

Do you have any pics of that odd "2nd mainsheet"? Almost sounds as if it was being used as some kind of vang or preventer, although those would normally be forward of the normal mainsheet attachment.

TIM WEBB wrote:Do you have any pics of that odd "2nd mainsheet"? Almost sounds as if it was being used as some kind of vang or preventer, although those would normally be forward of the normal mainsheet attachment.

I could hook it back up but I took it out. It was just about 18 inches or so forward of the mainsheet that was original and it connected to the top of the CB housing just like the original mainsheet does. It wasn't even close to a vang but possibly a preventer but I think that's a tad overkill for this size of boat.

Who knows? Some people come up with some pretty creative (and yes sometimes unorthodox) solutions to their immediate problems ... ?

I'd be curious to see pictures of how that is rigged as well out of curiosity. I really can't picture it.

John

Regarding lubricant, the only thing to use is "Team McLube Sailkote" it's the best lubricant period, and it's ideal for bolt ropes, and slots. It's not cheap, but it works.

Out of curiosity, I checked the Materials Safety Data Sheets for the various sprays, and boy, some of them have some nasty s**t in them.

Some photos showing second boom sheet (sort of). Have the boat in my pole barn and the mast down putzin on some stuff. The second sheet they had is one of the photos showing where it hooked up to the boom and the other photo where it hooked up to the CB housing top.

The other photo is the boat bottom which looks copper all the way and is tarnishing like copper--anybody possibly have any idea at all on what the previous owner could have used here?

Crap, wrong picture to show second sheet hook up on CB housing but it's basically about mid CB hgousing location where the original cam cleat is on the bend towards the aft part of the CB housing.

Hope I am making sense here.

Jib sheet through teak setup--wanted to show everybody what the set up is currently the way I bought it for the jib sheets. Sheet goes through a small block outside of the teak, then through the hole in the teak that you see and then through the cam cleat. Not a bad setup but the cam cleats are way too big for the size of sheets this boat uses. I can see on the inside of the teak where a small traveler once was.

I am pretty sure I am just going to order the JIB CAR set from Rudy and after redoing the teak, add those and get rid of what is on there. I assume the block and hole in teak are original and still needed correct?

It is hard to tell from the picture but my guess is the PO put a second coat of bottom paint of a different color. Some people due that on purpose. It appears to me the copper is worn off in spots and the turquoise is bleeding down a little from the spots where it is exposed.

My 2 cents on question 1. From the description I think what you are seeing as the second mainsheet is actually the boom vang. If it goes from the boom to the mast, lower near the cuddy top then it probably is. Either way I'd leave it out of the picture for now and deal with it later.

Good luck and enjoy the boat, great boat to get back into sailing with.

Looking at your pictures I have the same jib sheet arrangement where it routes through the coaming. Then the line continues straight and the cleats are mounted on the centerboard trunk. I can see where your arrangement would be less than optimal. Two solutions one to remove them and mount on the thwarts, the boards that go from the centerboard to the seats. The other is to route the lines all the way across so you're cleating on the other side, port jib cleats on starboard coaming.